A'U.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
June,lS94.  J 
Oak  Wood  and  Bark. 
293 
is  now  possible,  by  means  of  the  microscope,  to  recognize  with  cer- 
tainty the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  important  medicinal  con- 
stituents, including  many  of  the  alkaloids  and  glucosides.  In  many 
cases,  to  one  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  microscope,  it  constitutes  the 
simplest  and  speediest  mode  of  analyzing  a  drug  qualitatively. 
Among  the  glucosides  that  are  recognizable  by  this  means  are 
coniferin,  datiscin,  frangulin,  hesperidin,  phloridzin,  rutin,  salicin  and 
saponin ;  and  among  the  alkaloids,  aconitine,  atropine,  berberine, 
brucine,  colchicine,  corydaline,  cytisine,  morphine,  narcotine,  nar- 
ceine,  piperine,  strychnine,  theobromine,  caffeine,  veratrine  and 
nicotine. 
The  microscope,  in  the  hands  of  the  intelligent  pharmacist,  is 
thus  destined  to  become  a  much  more  important  instrument  than 
heretofore  in  identifying  drugs,  judging  of  their  quality  and  detect- 
ing adulterations. 
OAK  WOOD  AND  BARK. 
By  Wm.  B.  Thompson. 
It  is  asserted  that  oak  timber  of  the  present,  particularly  in  Eng- 
land, is  not  the  equal  in  durability  to  that  of  a  former  period.  If  the 
wood  has  deteriorated  is  it  not  likely  that  the  bark,  too,  has  become 
inferior  ?  Tanning  barks,  especially  of  the  oaks,  play  an  important 
role  in  the  arts.  An  exhaustive  examination  of  the  various  deriva- 
tives of  the  universal  astringent  principle  of  vegetable  substance — 
tannin — in  its  natural  combinations,  shows  great  variation  in  the 
respective  yield,  which  variation  is  influenced  by  climate,  soil,  cul- 
ture, season-periods  and  other  causes.  As  these  agencies  change  or 
become  modified  by  further  circumstances,  the  time  will,  no  doubt, 
arrive  when  some  natural  productions  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  may 
be  so  diminished  in  amount  and  quality  of  product  as  to  cause 
serious  inconvenience.  One  chief  source  of  error  in  the  cultivation 
of  trees  and  plants  exists  in  the  fact  that  we  do  not  adhere  with  suf- 
ficient exactness  to  the  processes  which  Nature  in  her  laws  has 
wisely  established  for  the  fulfilment  of  her  designs.  The  agricul- 
turist, in  the  cultivation  of  his  arborous  and  other  trees,  aims  to 
produce,  with  growth,  points  of  beauty.  Nature  does  this  too,  but 
unlike  the  man,  she  never  sacrifices  the  utilities  to  the  pleasing  attri- 
butes. The  germination  of  seed,  and  the  means  by  which  health- 
ful, progressive  growth  is  secured,  is  a  subject  which  may  and  can  be 
